WAUPUN, Wis. — This weekend, in Waupun, people are able to learn more about the tragic events of September 11, 2001 at the 9/11 Never Forget Mobile Exhibit.
The Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation puts on this exhibit.
The exhibit is a 53-foot tractor-trailer that transforms into a 1,000 square foot exhibit. The trailer travels across the United States to showcase the exhibit and educate everyone, especially the new generation, on the brave heroes of September 11, 2001.
The foundation was created in memory of Stephen Siller, a FDNY firefighter who died saving others during the attack.
The foundation doesn't just educate, though. It has three different programs to help families.
One is building homes that are handicap accessible for wounded veterans. The second is building or purchasing homes for widows who lost their spouse in wars after 9/11. The third program is paying off mortgages of fallen first responders.
The organization has announced it is paying off Appleton firefighter Mitch Lundgaard's mortgage to help his wife and children.
"Just a wonderful thing that they've done for the Lundgaard family, and being able to take one worry off their plate," said Waupun Fire Chief BJ Demaa.
Volunteers traveling with the exhibit were able to explain the events that unfolded on September 11, 2001. Dan Beyar was a firefighter working on Staten Island. He said he was about to get off work when they got word of the 9/11 attack. He said they jumped in a friend's truck and headed to the scene now etched in America's memory.
"You know, when we were in, we were told we were just going to find hundreds of people and just keep bringing people out, and everything was just so eerie and quiet," said Beyar.
He added, it was like a war zone, and that not a day goes by that he doesn't think of it.
Many waited in line to go inside and see the exhibit, filled with artifacts like a panel of a fire truck, a bunker coat of fallen firefighter John McAvoy, and personal memorabilia discovered in the rubble after the buildings collapsed, World Trade Center steel, aluminum façade, and granite from the buildings, and audio tapes of firefighters discussing what they will need to conquer the fire.
The tours are free to the public and conducted by firefighters, like Beyar, who were eyewitnesses on that tragic day.
The exhibit is open Saturday and Sunday, June 29-30, from noon to 8 p.m.
For more information on the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Foundation or to donate to the Lundgaard family, click here.
